Nokia’s New AI Button Comes With a 180-Day Free Trial

HMD Global has wired a dedicated AI button into four new Nokia feature phones, and it works free for exactly 180 days before billing kicks in. The Nokia 200 4G, Nokia 210 4G, Nokia 215 4G 2nd Edition and Nokia 235 4G 2nd Edition all carry the button front and center on the keypad’s navigation pad, running an assistant called Sikey AI.

HMD prices the cheapest of the four, the Nokia 200 4G, at $29. The catch sits in the fine print: once the free trial ends, keeping Sikey alive means reaching for a smartphone, the very device these phones exist to replace.

A Dedicated Button Wakes Up Sikey AI

HMD posted the four phones to its global product pages on July 3 without a launch event, the same low-key rollout the company has used for past Nokia refreshes.

Press the button once and Sikey answers by voice. No menus, no scrolling through settings.

HMD Global, the Finnish company behind Nokia-branded phones, built the assistant to handle small, specific jobs rather than open-ended conversation.

• Device control – turns on the flashlight, opens the camera, sets alarms and reminders, and places calls by voice
• Basic questions – answers simple queries and produces short recipes on request
• Language help – offers example phrases in a foreign language for travel or study

None of that needs anything like a ChatGPT-style conversation. HMD’s own listing for the phone notes in a footnote that service fees apply after the free trial ends, tucked well below the feature descriptions.

Same Candy-Bar Hardware, One New Key

Strip away the AI button and the rest of the spec sheet reads like classic Nokia. All four phones run the S30+ operating system paired with a removable 1,450 mAh battery, the same low-power formula HMD has used for years to stretch standby time well past a week.

Connectivity gets a real update. Every model adds 4G, Bluetooth 5.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack, FM radio and USB-C charging, replacing the older micro-USB ports and pin chargers Nokia phones carried for years. Xpress Chat brings video calling, voice messages, group chats and photo sharing to the lineup for the first time.

Two of the four, the 215 and 235, carry a 2nd Edition label, suggesting HMD refreshed existing hardware rather than designing new devices from the ground up. Component costs work against that $29 price tag industrywide, too. Rising memory prices have been squeezing low-end phone supply chains across the market this year.

How Much Does Nokia’s AI Subscription Cost?

Sikey AI runs free for the first 180 days on every new Nokia feature phone. After that, HMD charges $2.99 a year outside the European Union and $3.99 a year inside it, billed through Google Play or the App Store rather than the feature phone itself.

That last part is the sticking point. Paying for the subscription, and renewing it later, requires a smartphone or a PC, since none of these four phones can process a payment on their own. The people most likely to buy a $29 keypad phone are often the same people trying to avoid carrying a smartphone in the first place.

HMD has confirmed pricing for only one of the four models so far. Pricing for the Nokia 210 4G, Nokia 215 4G 2nd Edition and Nokia 235 4G 2nd Edition remains unannounced.

The Reaction Splits Between Mockery and Momentum

TechRadar reported that Reddit users dismissed the feature as “useless,” arguing a phone built for simplicity should not need a voice assistant bolted onto it.

The numbers around feature phones tell a different story.

• 25% jump in dumbphone sales during 2025, part of a broader pullback from smartphones
• 60 million views racked up by the #BringBackFlipPhones hashtag on TikTok
• 28% of Gen Z adults told Morning Consult they would consider buying a basic phone
• 42% of smartphone owners flag AI features as a cost driver for their devices, per 451 Research survey data

The global feature phone market itself is not shrinking. It is worth an estimated $52.4 billion, according to a market report projecting 4.7% annual growth through 2034.

HMD’s Bigger Bet Reaches Far Beyond One Button

Sikey is one piece of a wider plan HMD laid out at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this March. The company described a digital wallet, expanded video calling and AI assistance as three pillars of its 2026 feature phone push, in its own announcement detailing a 2026 wallet and AI push.

The wallet piece is furthest along. Kivi3 supplies the fintech technology behind it, while Polygon Labs runs the blockchain payments infrastructure that moves the money, letting feature phone owners in India receive remittances and route them into Unified Payments Interface (UPI, India’s real-time payments network) accounts. India gets the service first, in the first half of 2026, with other regions to follow later in the year.

A separate partnership with Sarvam AI aims to make the assistant feel less generic for users in India. The Indian AI company will tailor Sikey’s responses to local languages and everyday needs there.

In parts of Europe, HMD is testing something gentler: an AI companion built with inTouch. The company focuses on reducing isolation among older adults, and its version of the assistant is reachable through the same style of single button press.

We bring sophisticated AI companionship to seniors through the most familiar interface imaginable: their voice.

Vassili le Moigne, founder and chief executive of inTouch, said that when HMD announced the pilot.

Why HMD Keeps Betting on the Nokia Name

None of this happens by accident. Nokia Corporation, the Finnish company that still owns the brand, extended HMD’s license to sell Nokia feature phones by two to three years beyond the original 2026 cutoff, under a September 2025 licensing extension covering feature phones.

HMD has also wound down Nokia branding on smartphones entirely, leaving feature phones as the last product line still carrying the name. HMD pulled out of the US market entirely last September too, citing new import tariffs, which explains why the rollout list for these four phones skips America altogether.

The underlying business can reportedly support the bet. HMD’s chairman and chief executive, Jean-François Baril, has pointed to what the company calls ten consecutive quarters of profitability, even in a market squeezed by cheaper rivals.

None of that overlaps with Nokia Corporation, whose own stock has climbed more than 140% this year on demand for AI data center networking gear, unrelated to feature phones or AI buttons.

HMD still leads the category it is defending, holding an estimated 17.3% revenue share of that market, more than any other single feature phone maker, per the same industry analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Happens if the Sikey Subscription Lapses?

HMD hasn’t spelled out exactly what happens if a subscription lapses, though the AI button would presumably stop responding. Calls, texts and Xpress Chat all work independently of the subscription, since HMD ties the fee only to the Sikey assistant.

How Do I Renew the Subscription When the 180 Days Run Out?

HMD says the phone displays a QR code reminder seven days before the trial expires. Owners scan that code with a smartphone, then complete the purchase through Google Play or the App Store to keep Sikey working.

Does Sikey AI Need an Internet Connection to Work?

Mostly, yes. Sikey appears to rely on cloud processing over the phone’s 4G connection for most tasks, and HMD has not said publicly whether any commands run locally without a data connection.

Which Countries Get the New Nokia Phones First?

HMD plans an initial rollout across Europe, India, South Africa, China and the Middle East, the same five regions the company named for its broader 2026 feature phone push.

Is the AI Assistant Built for Older Users Specifically?

Not this particular button. Sikey AI on the four new phones handles general voice tasks, while HMD’s separate pilot with inTouch is a distinct AI companion being tested in parts of Europe for older adults specifically.